Football is Upon Us! 2010 College Football Preview

As Laura alluded to yesterday, we here at Chicks Dig Sports are completely tickled that it’s fall. There are multiple reasons for this: we hate humidity, we love fall scents and we’re absolutely and totally crazy about football. It’s not that we don’t have exciting and fun summer flings with baseball, casually date basketball or have a committed relationship with hockey. But football? Well it’s our one true love. The one we’re absolutely crazy about and, if we had to choose, would hands down be the single sport we could watch the rest of our lives.

While we still have to wait a little over a week for the NFL to start, it is college football eve. We’re so excited (and you should be too!) Hell, I say we’d consider smacking a big smooch on Lee Corso. Below you’ll find our top pre-season college coaching stories and our predictions for the 2010 NCAA season. Don’t hold your breath folks, this is a long one! 🙂  

Coaching Carousel

Every off-season, the coaching carousel spins round and round and this year is no exception. These coaches are the ones to watch as they have the most to gain (and lose!) this season.

Lane Kiffin-as most of you know, I’m not a fan of the man, to put it lightly. I find him to be classless, arrogant and have no respect for the game. His inaugural rookie NCAA head coach season was lukewarm at best, how is he going to fair with a storied program like USC?  Well, it really doesn’t matter, to tell you the truth, because USC is ineligible for bowl games until 2013. So Kiffin can go undefeated, but if he doesn’t, and he fails like he’s pretty much done with every program he’s touched, it doesn’t matter, cause they aren’t eligible anyway. Consider me pissed he has an automatic two-year cushion.

Rich Rodriguez-Michigan is in the running for my least favorite team in the entire sporting world. I enjoy their losing almost as much as I enjoy watching Penn State win. That being said, Rich Rod is on thin ice, this season will be make or break for him. After two dismal seasons and a pathetic “I wasn’t aware of what was going on” excuse and the man is already on borrowed time.

Urban Meyer-He goes on an indefinite leave of absence, he’s back, he’s sick, he’s not, he’s coaching. I suppose if I was Urban Meyer, I’d go through a crisis with Tebow graduating, but his back and forth was completely unnecessary and absolutely absurd. Most coaches, when they lose their marquee player (which in a best case scenario happens every four years), regroups and devises a new plan of attack. Meyer throws a public hissy fit in front of the nation and, after assessing that his squad will be competitive enough to compete this season, comes back. Pressure’s on Urban, but only because YOU brought it by your silly antics.

Brian Kelly-First year Notre Dame Coach…do we need to say anything else?

Conference Predictions:

Big Ten

• Sam’s Pick: Iowa. Fresh off an Orange Bowl win and with Stanzi back in charge, these corn-fed Iowa boys have been chomping at the bit to continue their success of recent seasons. Add in the fact that Pryor just can’t seem to get it together in the big game and the Hawkeyes should have a clear path to the Rose Bowl if they play smart.
• Laura’s Pick: Terrell Pryor will come into his own this year. He’s athletic and a born leader, with all the practice he’s put in over the off-season his throw should be better now too. He may never be the total package, but he’ll come pretty close this season and lead Ohio State to win the conference.

Big 12 North

• Sam’s Pick: Nebraska. Is there anyone else worth mentioning in this division? Plus they have one more chance to make their mark before jumping ship for the Big Ten next year.
• Laura’s Pick: Nebraska. For reasons above.

Big 12 South

• Sam’s Pick: Texas Tech. In a good position with dual QB’s Potts and Sheffield, Texas Tech is way better off than conference rivals Texas and Oklahoma who have extremely green QBs. (Obviously, Laura has more faith in Jones that I do.)
• Laura’s Pick: Oklahoma. Landry Jones was forced into a leadership role before he was ready and onto the national stage when Sam Bradford went down. He’s gotten experience under his belt and coaches don’t come better than Bob Stoops, with him at the head of the program the Sooners are always, calm, cool, collected and all football, all the time. I do hope Oklahoma State give them a run for their money – I love that team, they play with so much heart and their coach, well, “He’s a man, he’s forty!”

PAC 10

• Sam’s Pick: Oregon. Always a solid program, the Ducks have USC out of contention this year. Look for them to shine through a victory in the Civil War and secure a spot in the Rose Bowl.
• Laura’s Pick: Stanford–Andrew Luck is a stud, this potential Heisman candidate and badass (former Bear) Jim Harbagh have this division locked up.

Big East:

• Sam’s Pick: Syracuse. Why the hell not? Cincinnati surely isn’t repeating.
• Laura’s Pick: Pitt. Wandstadt is valuable sometimes right?…Right?

WAC

• Sam’s Pick:  Boise State. Love everything about Boise State down to their blue field. Shame the BCS will never allow them to play for the national championship, even with consecutive undefeated seasons.
• Laura’s Pick: Boise State. I just love this program, always the unsung hero of college football. These guys have great talent, coaching but often miss out on the national stage.

*Note the same reasoning for TCU to take it all in the Mountain West.

ACC

• Sam’s Pick: Miami. This is Miami’s comeback year. They’ve been middling since the departure of Shockey, McGahee and *gasp* Dorsey in the early 00’s. This year, they’re poised to return to their glory days and be right where they belong at the top of the division.
• Laura’s Pick: Virginia Tech. Always a solid program. With a weak division like the ACC, they should be able to easily play their way into a New Year’s Day bowl game.

SEC

• Sam’s Pick: Alabama. Ingram’s knee trouble may be a factor, but Alabama led by veteran coach Nick Saban, has all the tools to make another title run. Factor in a Tebow-less Florida (Urban Meyer’s built-in excuse) and the hardest division in college football should be prime for the taking.
• Laura’s Pick: Alabama. Nick Saban is the most no-nonsense coach in college ball and you’ve got to love his halftime interviews. With Ingram returning and a corral of running back studs and McElroy turning out not half bad performances most of the time, I would say they’re a lock. Sometimes it can be hard to repeat, as long as they don’t crumble underneath self-imposed pressure, they should lock things up.

BCS Championship Game

• Sam’s Pick: Alabama vs. Ohio State. Not because they’re pre-season #1 and #2, but because they will have time to stumble early on (by both losing to PSU ;-)) and will have plenty of time to steady out to regain the #1 and #2 spots.
• Laura’s Pick: Oklahoma vs. Ohio State.

That’s a wrap, folks! What are your thoughts?? We KNOW you have some, and we’re always up for discussion! What do you agree with? What are we totally off on? Which of the four coaches is on the thinnest of ice? Who are the sleepers?

In case you’ve been living under a rock, you can find the full pre-season AP list here.

As always, talk to us people…have we mentioned how much we love fall?  🙂

–The Chicks

New Year’s Hangover

Three days into ’10 and my head is about to explode with everything that has been going on in the past couple days with sports. Since I have a tendency to be longwinded bear with me folks.

NFL/Pittsburgh Steelers

I’d like to start by saying that I’m really bummed about the Steelers not making the playoffs. Like REALLY bummed. The post season isn’t the post season without my boys. It seems like this is the first time I can remember them not being in the playoffs–and then I’m reminded that this exact same thing happened a few years ago. The Steelers followed up their 2006 Superbowl Champion season by missing the playoffs. I’m ok with this pattern, if and only if they continue it and I can look forward to a Championship in 2012. This Pittsburgh Steeler team is such a disappointment. Not because they started the season 6-2, not because they lost 5 games in a row, not because we only won 2 division games this year. (That’s right…TWO). They are a disappointment to me because I did not see much heart from them all season long. Or at least until it was too late. With only 16 games in a season, a football team has to go out on the field and bring a solid effort. We simply did not do that in many games this year. I keep flashing back to the Steelers/Browns game where the Steelers decided they didn’t want to play. Because it was too cold. Of course they didn’t actually say this but their actions did. I didn’t see any hustle, I saw dropped passes from Ward (who had an unusually subpar season) and don’t even get me started on the defense. Our defense struggled all year without our leader Troy Polamalu (damn Madden curse) and they played uninspired. Add in the fact that there was internal bickering between Roethlisberger and Ward, Jeff Reed’s drunken shenanigans and the lack of leadership on the team and the season was abysmal.

See, I’m upset with you Pittsburgh. I love you, but I’m really freaking upset with you. YOUR FANS DESERVE BETTER THAN THAT. We are with you and we love you, whether you win or lose…there are no fair weather fans in the steel city, but we deserved better than the performance you gave us this season. I can take it if you try your hearts out and get beat, but what I can’t take is a lack of effort overall…and there was a slump this season where you didn’t care and damn it, we ALWAYS care. We ALWAYS care how you’re doing. You’re “the town of Pittsburgh’s heart and soul” and I just feel like you forgot that somewhere along the way this year.

So, we love, we forgive you and we’re freaking excited for you to address these problems and kick some ass next year boys. On the upside…there were some INCREDIBLE highlights to the Pittsburgh Steeler season including: Roethlisberger throwing over 4,000 yards this season and 503 yards in a single game, the emergence of Mike Wallace (Holla!) Who is going to be AWESOME for us, Rashard Mendenhall finally growing into his own and mowing down the competition like he was still at Illinois and, let us not forget, Dennis Dixon getting his moment to shine in prime time. So we love you Pittsburgh, and a 9-7 record isn’t horrible…it’s just not good enough to get you into the playoffs. I’m already ANXIOUSLY awaiting next season…is it August yet?! 😉

Syracuse Orange

Ok. Syracuse. I should have known. The BIG EAST is the toughest collegiate basketball division and it is pretty much impossible to go undefeated. And Pitt is always solid, I said in a previous post that, although they had lost two games, there was no reason to doubt their toughness. We are not in any danger having lost by ten points. at home. Seriously, because when you make the NCAA tournament, you won’t be playing at home anyway (even though the Carrier Dome is a site for the playoffs!) What I’m alarmed about though, my dear boys, is ability for the team to unravel fairly quickly. Syracuse, you were 1-for-13 on three pointers. ONE FOR THIRTEEN. That says to me two things: Rautins was off (hate it when that happens!) and you’re taking stupid shots. 1 for 13 is maybe 2%?! Pitt’s always a freaking good contender, and so what if we drop to No. 10 when the new rankings come out.  As of right now, you’re 13-1. The season is really long and no one goes undefeated. Let’s just work on playing ‘HORSE’ in your off-time with three point shots. *Side note, the SU Women’s basketball team was also handed their first defeat on Saturday at the hands of Georgetown (Blech!) The women are 12-1, the best start in school history. I’m sure they’ll bounce back in no time.

BCS Bowls

As we all know by now, I’m proving to be pretty awful at picking these BCS bowls. I currently stand at 1-3 (if you count the OSU/Ole Miss game where I flipped a coin) As I mentioned in my previous post, I apologized to my lions for thinking they would succumb to the SEC. But here is what I learned from a few of the other games.

Rose Bowl:

Terrell Pryor, as much as I HATE to admit it, really seems like he’s a force to be reckoned with. and I really hate to admit it.

Sugar Bowl:

Florida has no class to be running up the score like that. It’s almost like they forgot that a few weeks ago, they were the center of a ridiculously embarrassing lopsided win. One that stopped them from the national championship. Good Riddance Tebow. The next time I’ll see you cry is on draft day (Props to @rockatalic for coining that)

Outback Bowl:

Auburn has really gotten bad over the past couple years and Northwestern has a TON of heart and throws a butt-load of interceptions.

Alamo Bowl:

Maybe Leach ISN’T the secret ingredient to keep the Red-Raiders winning. Then again, they were playing against Michigan State.

Liberty Bowl:

East Carolina’s kicker should drop out of school. Seriously. With that many missed kicks, the school should go the ‘Glee’ route and hire the gay show-choir kid to be the kicker on the team so his dad doesn’t catch on to the fact that he’s gay. I feel bad for the kid, honestly, but he should probably get out of dodge. The south is CRAZY about football. (and not that Arkansas’ kicker was much better….but didn’t blow the game TWICE)

What was your favorite sporting event of the weekend? Did you enjoy this gluttony of 24/7 sports the past couple days? Talk to me people 🙂 And check back tomorrow for my NFL match-ups/playoffs.

–Sam